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Hi guys, I didn´t find a case like that anywhere else (google and hear), and I know you will tell me is a problem related to airflow but it just doesn´t make sense.
The list of parts that I have changed trying to troubleshoot this problem goes from thermostats down to the e-fan itself.
The problem is that my car overheats, after 15 to 20 minutes, being parked, nor in traffic (not yet, knock on wood) just parked.
In short I discovered that if I open the hood, the temperatures lowers quite rapidly and goes to normal.
I have an aftermarket temp gauge installed on the intake manifold (there was a water connection to the heater but my car doesn´t have a heater so I thought it was a good place to put it.
The temps (while driving) don´t even go above 70ºC, they even go down to 40ºC if I go on the highway, the problem begins when I park the car; if I leave it running, the aftermarket gauge shows clearly how the water temp starts to rise up to the red zone (around 100ºC), funny thing is that while getting to that zone, the stock water temp doesn´t move yet, it takes around 5 min. to start moving from normal to high temp.
The things is, if I open the hood, all temps gauges go back to normal, even the hoses get smooth again (the get quite stiff when overheats).
So, after trying 2 aftermarket fans, and fan blades, 3 coolants brand, changing hoses and hoses clamps, and after checking if I blew the engine gasket (apparently not, thank god 🙂 ). I cannont find where is the problem.
The radiator is brand new, could it be that it maybe clogged? the whole system has been cleaned and purged several times.
Or maybe the radiator (single core BTW) is not enough for the engine and I should get a two core radiador?
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First, 100 Deg C is not overheated on modern engines. Engines running at idle is the worst case for temperature issues. And 70 Deg C is too low so the thermostat is not working properly. Please give a few details on the engine and car. Are both of the fans running at idle when the temperature goes up?
MORE DETAILS.
You´re right, I lacked some details.
Well, the thermostat is rated 82ºC, is what the manual says. The fan comes on and off as usual.
The car, well, indeed is a Suzuki Swift, but the engine version is the same as the Vitara Sidekick, only that this model is not FI. And the radiator is the same that the Geo Metro uses, in size, but the outlets are different (because mine is Auto trans).
Besides that, I don´t know what else. The thing is that the old radiator worked fine, and with this new one I just started to have this problem.
By the fact that the resevoir water boils I know that the engine doesn´t have a coolant leak, but I don´t know what´s happening. 🙁
I’d check and see if there is coolant flow maybe the fins on the water pump are on there way out. Check the coolant pressure cap and see if it holds pressure & also check the heater core hoses(inlet & outlet) on some cars the coolant flows through the heatercore all the time not just when you turn the heat on. If thats clogged eric has a video on how to back flush a heater core. I’d also say bleed the cooling system again & check for combustion gasses in the coolant via block tester.
will do then, one last thing, since down here we don’t have the tools you guys have up there, is there another way to check for combustion gases? I did manage to bleed the system using a cutoff plastic soda bottle so I could see if there were any bubbles.
Let’s think on the poorest man’s way to do it. =P
I think the only way to do it is to get the tester. I don’t know were your from but in New Hampshire we can go to the local autoparts stotre (auto zone, napa, pep boys, advance auto) and rent the combustion gas tester.
Did you replace the cooling fan with the radiator or end up with the original? If you can mount a larger fan on the radiator it should do the trick. For the same power, a 7″ fan produces 600 CFM and a 14″ produces 1900 cfm. So if the fan is running and it still gets hot try an external fan as a test with the hood closed. If it cools the engine down, try mounting a larger fan.
The most common cause of overheating is air in the cooling system. This is often overlooked as a cause of an overheat condition. Aside from that go over the checks in the video posted above.
Well hello guys, CarDoog here XD as you can see in the pictures I made some modifications to my cooling system. Here is the thing:
After getting a new rad from USA, and installing another temp gauge on the heater line I started to have leaks :blink: the thing is that the new rad came with a 1.1 cap, and my car is rated 0.9 so I don´t know if the new cap is for the new capacity of the radiator. Also, the new temp gauge does work now, and I see that I am running around the 220´s, way above the normal but the oem gauge doesn´t mark overheat, it sits in the middle. This weekend I will fix the leaks and do some other modifications.
Did I mention that I have also a trans cooler? The A/C condenser, the trans cooler and the radiator are quite far apart from each other, and in different positions (still trying to find the pic but eventually I will find it). I will reposition all of them so the trans cooler is away from the radiator.
I see you have a few modifications there including the radiator and cooling fan. It might have something to do with that. As you stated airflow may be an issue but I dont’ think it’s the hood design. I’d bet it has more to do with your aftermarket cooling fan. What is often overlooked is fan shroud design. If the radiator doesn’t have a fan shroud that can pull air from the entire surface of the radiator then there won’t be enough air flow past it to cool efficiently. Especially in a hot climate. You might consider making a fan shroud or going back to the OE fan. Also make sure your fan is wired correctly. If it’s blowing in the wrong direction it can also cause an overheat condition.
This is what I managed to do last weekend, just re arraging things. Improved a bit, but yep, I need a shroud so, I guess I will have to get the oem fan out ( :pinch: )
Now before going there, just wanted to make sure you see what I managed to do over the past weekend. As you can see the fan is a puller so… (insert comments after that)
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[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/21/20130302230425615.jpg/][IMG]http://imageshack.us/scaled/thumb/21/20130302230425615.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/805/20130302230533837.jpg/][IMG]http://imageshack.us/scaled/thumb/805/20130302230533837.jpg[/IMG][/URL]By the way, the Heater line should be as hot as the normal cooling line? or even hotter? I say this because my other temp gauge is located where the heater was supposed to be (gold T) so, since it is metal, and there is a flow of hot air coming from the fan, I was wondering if that could give me a wrong reading over time and maybe, just maybe I may be misjudging the temp reading there from the one of the oem temp gauge.
The easiest way I found for checking for a blown head gasket is to put a latex glove on where the radiator cap goes and put a rubber band or tape it to seal it off.Plug off the overflow tube by the glove and start the car if it swells like a balloon you have a bad gasket.Combustion pressure is a lot higher than coolant pressure.
Also the engine needs to be cold to do this, maybe remove about 1 inch of coolant from the rad.[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/594/20130319085530538.jpg/][IMG]http://imageshack.us/scaled/medium/594/20130319085530538.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/14/20130319085521717.jpg/][IMG]http://imageshack.us/scaled/medium/14/20130319085521717.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/59/20130319085446324.jpg/][IMG]http://imageshack.us/scaled/medium/59/20130319085446324.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/849/20130318133557465.jpg/][IMG]http://imageshack.us/scaled/medium/849/20130318133557465.jpg[/IMG][/URL]Finally no more overheating, and I followed the idea of the spill free funnel, my is not so mucho spill free actually 😆 😆 😆 I kinda made something to keep hot air inside the hood to go through the radiator (you can see in the last pic, and yes, that is duct tape :P), now it stays smoothly between 89 to 95 celsius. The problem was that I had a busted hose that it didn´t looked like busted, so in the end I found out the leak and changed the hose.
Anyways, thank you guys =) B)
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